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North Korea slams U.S. government

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Story highlights

U.S. has asked China to help combat North Korean hacking, official says

Guardians of Peace mocks the FBI

U.S. says it's confident North Korea is behind cyberattack

North Korea warns of "serious consequences" if the U.S. keeps tying it to the attack

The United States has asked China for help battling North Korean hacking of American information systems, such as the Sony Pictures incident, a senior administration official told CNN on Saturday.

"We have discussed this issue with the Chinese to share information, express our concerns about this attack, and to ask for their cooperation," the official said. "In our cybersecurity discussions, both China and the United States have expressed the view that conducting destructive attacks in cyberspace is outside the norms of appropriate cyber behavior."

North Korea's Internet traffic goes through China. President Barack Obama said Friday, "We've got no indication that North Korea was acting in conjunction with another country."

The New York Times first reported that the United States had approached China.

On Saturday, the Guardians of Peace, a group of hackers accused of performing the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, mocked the FBI in a new statement.

"The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eye," said the statement posted on the file-sharing website pastebin. "We congratulate you (sic) success. FBI is the BEST in the world. You will find the gift for FBI at the following address. Enjoy!"

The hackers broke into Sony's servers, published private emails and information, and threatened to attack movie theaters screening "The Interview," a comedy film about an assassination plot on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Earlier Saturday, North Korea slammed U.S. claims that the regime is responsible for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures -- and then proposed the two countries work together.

"Whoever is going to frame our country for a crime should present concrete evidence," the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

"America's childish investigation result and its attempt to frame us for this crime shows their hostile tendency towards us."

But in a rare move, the North Korean regime said both countries should work together.

"While America has been criticized by its own public and continues to point the finger at us, we suggest mutual investigation with America on this case," KCNA said.

"If America refuses our proposal of mutual investigation, continues to link us to this case, and talk about actions in response, they (America) will be met with serious consequences."

U.S. replies to North Korea

National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh replied to the North Korean statement:

Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

How the Sony hack unfolded – Sony Pictures announce the controversial comedy "The Interview," a film depicting the assassination of North Korea's leader, will have a limited release on Christmas Day. The studio previously announced it would shelve plans to release the film after it became the victim of a cyber attack thought to have originated in North Korea. Click to see how the saga unfolded.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

In June 2014, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said "The Interview" was "the most undisguised terrorism." "If the U.S. administration connives at and patronizes the screening of the film, it will invite a strong and merciless countermeasure," he said.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

In November, "The Guardians of Peace," a hacker group with suspected ties to North Korea, said that it had hacked Sony Pictures and released massive amounts of data. The group added that there would be more leaks.

In early December, hackers emailed Sony employees warning that "your family will be in danger." Guardians of Peace have claimed the email did not come from them. The FBI confirmed in a statement they were aware of the email and are investigating the "person or group responsible for the recent attack on the Sony Pictures network." Many security experts said the hack increasingly pointed to North Korea.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 7 -- North Korea's state-run propaganda arm said they were not responsible for the Sony hack attack but applauded it as "a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK." They added they could not be responsible as America is "a country far across the ocean."

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 8 -- Another message appeared on a website saying: "We have already given our clear demand to the management team of SONY, however, they have refused to accept. Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us. And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!"

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

Sony Hack Timeline – December 11 -- Another leaked email revealed a controversial exchange between a Sony executive and a producer, speculating over President Barack Obama's favorite films, referring to "Django Unchained" and other movies about African Americans such as "12 Years a Slave."

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 15 -- Sony Pictures asked news organizations to stop examining and publicizing the information made public by the hackers. Attorney David Boies said that the hackers' tactics are part of "an ongoing campaign explicitly seeking to prevent [Sony] from distributing a motion picture."

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 16 -- In an email to Sony Pictures' co-chair Amy Pascal, producer Scott Rudin called Angelina Jolie "minimally talented" and a "spoiled brat" with a "rampaging... ego". Jolie and Pascal were later photographed running into each other at an event with Jolie giving Pascal a nasty look. The leaks also revealed the secret aliases of some well-known actors such as Tom Hanks, Sara Michelle Gellar and Jessica Alba.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 16 -- The New York premiere of "The Interview" was canceled after "The Guardians of Peace" posted a threat against moviegoers. The message said: "We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to," the hacking group said. "The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001."

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 17 -- Two former Sony employees sued the company for failing to protect their private information. The plaintiffs seek to form a class action lawsuit of up to 15,000 former employees. The plaintiffs want Sony to provide them with five years of credit monitoring, bank monitoring, identity theft insurance and credit restoration services. They also called for Sony to be subject to regular privacy audits.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 18 -- Sony decided to cancel the release of "The Interview," a decision that sparked outrage among celebrities and politicians. A movie theater in Texas announced they would offer a free screening of Team America -- which features the leader's father Kim Jong Il -- instead until Paramount shut that down too. Sony also downplayed the possibility that the film could be released online.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 19 -- President Obama said in a news conference that Sony "made a mistake" in response to the studio's decision to cancel its plans to release "The Interview" on Christmas Day. He told CNN later that week that the Sony hack was an act of "cybervandalism", not "an act of war".

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

December 21 -- Sony Pictures' CEO Michael Lynton responds to President Obama's comments, telling CNN "we did not cave or back down." Mr Lynton also said Sony were looking into releasing "The Interview" on the internet but no major distributor has volunteered to release the film.

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Photos:How the Sony hack unfolded

How the Sony hack unfolded – December 22 -- North Korea's internet goes black for more than nine hours. The cause of the outage is unknown, but experts have suggested that a lone hacker could have carried it out, others even argued that the North Korean government could have deliberately disconnected themselves.

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How the Sony hack unfolded – December 23 -- Sony Pictures announced "The Interview" will be released on Christmas Day but only in a limited number of theatres. The studio's CEO Michael Lynton said: "while we hope this is only the first step of the film's release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech." So far more than 200 independently-owned theatres have agreed to show the film.

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"As the FBI made clear, we are confident the North Korean government is responsible for this destructive attack. We stand by this conclusion. The government of North Korea has a long history of denying responsibility for destructive and provocative actions. If the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused."

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Sony CEO: We did not make a mistake

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"We have not caved. We have not given in," Lynton said. "We have persevered, and we have not backed down. We have always had the desire to have the American public see this movie."

And despite enduring what he called "the worst cyberattack in American history," Lynton said his studios would make the movie again. But in retrospect, he may have "done some things slightly differently."